According to the customs of New England

You will be gratified to hear that, according to the customs of New England, and, I suppose, of the United States generally, I have a bath every morning; and, though I am not altogether pleased with the custom, and sometimes cannot refrain from shedding tears, yet I consider it far preferable to that which prevails among the Armenians of Constantinople. These, on the birth of a child, immediately scarify its arms, back, legs, with a lancet, put on salt, and swathe it close, and thus let it remain for days, weeks, and I do not know but months, without unswathing. Whether they salt down the child in order to preserve it, or whether the object is to get all the old Adam out of its blood, I must confess my ignorance; but, at any rate, a daily purification by water must, it appears to me, be unspeakably better.

I wish to be properly remembered to all my uncles, aunts, and cousins in the land of my forefathers. Would it were in my power to tell you my name, but really I am not so rich as to possess one; and whether I am to be Jemima, Keren-happuch, or something else, I have not the least iiea; and all my friends here seem to be at as great a loss about itras I myself. But though my name is not yet written on earth, I hope it is already enrolled in heaven; and oh, may it never be blotted from the book of life!

And as to yourself, I presume you will know perfectly well who I am, and for whom you must pray, when I subscribe myself

THE LITTLE DAUGHTER OP YOUR SON TV. G.

Another letter was written by Mr. Goodell, as amanuensis for a son just born, to one of the officers of the American Board, whose name had been given to the child: —-

MY DEAR SIR, — I joined this mission on the 20th ult., and, though I was not wholly unexpected, yet I arrived at so early an hour in the morning as to take some of the missionary circle by surprise. For the present I board in Mr. Goodell’s family, which seems to be the case with all new missionaries, till they have learnt something of the language, with the manners and customs of the people; and this whether they are to remain permanently at Constantinople, or whether they are to pass on after a while to the regions beyond.